Sleep mode: Hardware or software problem?

I am posting this here, because I am not sure how much this problem may involve Windows 8.1. If it should be in another forum, then the mods can move it.

I picked all the components, some, after discussion with the "builder", others from my personal "research". I am running Windows 8.1 Professional. I had it all assembled by a 2nd party (the builder) and it is running fairly well with one exception. We, the builder and myself, are having a hard time getting the "sleep mode" function to work. I am asking here because I don't know how much of this is software - Win 8.1 Pro - or hardware - the components in the system.

It will go into "sleep mode" and with anywhere from a few seconds to a few minutes, it "awakens" again, but once in a while, it will stay asleep until I "wake" it up. I have tried to figure out the difference between these two happenings, but have had no luck doing so.

My question is whether or not we should be looking seriously at the hardware, MB, CPU, SSDs, HDDs, etc., (list can be supplied) or is it something in Win 8.1 Pro or an interaction between the two of them. Any insight that anyone would care to provide will be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

My techie background is a little lacking, but by the initials NIC, I am assuming that you mean Network Interface Controller? I am not sure how to look at its power management properties. Is there a reference I should know about?

Joe, I tried to run powercfg.exe and all I get are a bunch of what look like search retrievals from Bing. What I did was go to the start Window and type "run" and then up comes a small box and I continue typing "powercfg.exe /?" and all I get is this search results - nothing that looks like powercfg was ever actually run. I am obviously doing something wrong, but I don't know what. Can you help out with this? Thanks.

If your computer successfully enters Sleep mode at all, that rules out BIOS sleep weirdness. There have been some long-standing problems with BIOS support for the S1-S4 sleep modes.

Just a couple of thoughts, in approx. decreasing order of likelihood:

1). The inconsistent waking behaviour, in terms of time, is significant to me. Turn off mouse events as a trigger to wake the computer. Many people overlook how sensitive a mouse sensor is, particularly the modern sensors. These can have a resolution of thousands of DPI. Vibrations too small to feel can trigger the mouse motion sensor and wake up the computer. If this works, you will have to wake up the computer with your keyboard and not the mouse.

2). Port activity can wake the computer too. Serial port events used to be a thing, particularly in the days of modems. Nowadays look out for Ethernet Wake On LAN events as a means to wake up the computer.

3). Automated tasks can wake the computer. The computer must be running in at least some minimal state to allow this but Sleep mode qualifies. Do you have any automated Task Scheduler events that might be doing this?

...by the initials NIC, I am assuming that you mean Network Interface Controller? I am not sure how to look at its power management properties. Is there a reference I should know about?...

"NIC" also called "network adapter", "ethernet adapter", etc.

Go to "Device Manager/Network adapters". Right-click your network adapter then left-click "Properties". Under the "Power Management" tab clear the checkboxes so any network activity will not cause Windows to wake from sleep mode.

Computer Consultant/Technician since 1998 (first PC was Atari 1040STE in 1988).
Most common computing error is EBKAC: Error Between Keyboard And Chairback
Confuscius said: "no use running harder if you're on the wrong road" and "any problem once correctly understood is already half-solved".

Go to "Device Manager/Network adapters". Right-click your network adapter then left-click "Properties". Under the "Power Management" tab clear the checkboxes so any network activity will not cause Windows to wake from sleep mode.

Coochin, thanks for the insight. I tried to get a Windows Snip to Paste in here, but I couldn't figure out how to make it happen - maybe this will work - attaching an image file. These are all the things listed under Network Adapters. Which ones do I clear?

If your computer successfully enters Sleep mode at all, that rules out BIOS sleep weirdness. There have been some long-standing problems with BIOS support for the S1-S4 sleep modes.

Just a couple of thoughts, in approx. decreasing order of likelihood:

1). The inconsistent waking behaviour, in terms of time, is significant to me. Turn off mouse events as a trigger to wake the computer. Many people overlook how sensitive a mouse sensor is, particularly the modern sensors. These can have a resolution of thousands of DPI. Vibrations too small to feel can trigger the mouse motion sensor and wake up the computer. If this works, you will have to wake up the computer with your keyboard and not the mouse.

2). Port activity can wake the computer too. Serial port events used to be a thing, particularly in the days of modems. Nowadays look out for Ethernet Wake On LAN events as a means to wake up the computer.

3). Automated tasks can wake the computer. The computer must be running in at least some minimal state to allow this but Sleep mode qualifies. Do you have any automated Task Scheduler events that might be doing this?

BHarder, thanks for your reply. Some further questions for this old not-so-techie-anymore guy .

My computer does successfully enter Sleep mode, just won't stay there most of the time.

1) How do I turn off the mouse "sensitivity"? I have no problem waking the computer with the keyboard.

2) How do I find out if this - port activity - is the potential problem?

...These are all the things listed under Network Adapters. Which ones do I clear?...

Should be the "Broadcom 802.11ac Network Adapter".

Computer Consultant/Technician since 1998 (first PC was Atari 1040STE in 1988).
Most common computing error is EBKAC: Error Between Keyboard And Chairback
Confuscius said: "no use running harder if you're on the wrong road" and "any problem once correctly understood is already half-solved".

So I followed you directions from a previous post - Go to "Device Manager/Network adapters". Right-click your network adapter then left-click "Properties". Under the "Power Management" tab clear the checkboxes so any network activity will not cause Windows to wake from sleep mode. - the only problem was that there were no checkboxes to clear under "Power Management". The only choices I received were "Allow this computer to turn off this device to save power" which was checked and "Allow this device to wake the computer" which was greyed out and thus not accessible. Maybe this is not the problem?

...The only choices I received were "Allow this computer to turn off this device to save power" which was checked and "Allow this device to wake the computer" which was greyed out and thus not accessible...

You need to remove the tick from the "Allow this computer to turn off this device to save power" checkbox.

Computer Consultant/Technician since 1998 (first PC was Atari 1040STE in 1988).
Most common computing error is EBKAC: Error Between Keyboard And Chairback
Confuscius said: "no use running harder if you're on the wrong road" and "any problem once correctly understood is already half-solved".